AUG 14, 2020
New Patient Billing During Public Health Emergency
Question: During our office closure for COVID-19, a former patient of ours had multiple conversations with our on-call physician, none of which were submitted to insurance. She is now coming in for an exam. Because we have not billed an exam in over four years, is she considered new or established?
Answer: Without a face-to-face or telemedicine encounter with the physician or any other ophthalmologists in the practice in over three years, bill as a new patient exam. Be sure to educate the patient so that there is no confusion about the new patient status.
Visit Coding for telehealth for more information.